


Bram Finds out about the Gay Bar

by kendra189



Series: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda - Blue's Bravery Series [1]
Category: Love Simon (2018), Simonverse | Creekwood Series - Becky Albertalli
Genre: Canon Compliant, Garrett POV, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:54:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29544066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kendra189/pseuds/kendra189
Summary: Book-Canon - GARRETT POVMissing Scene - It's the Monday after Simon is grounded, and a full week since Blue gave Simon the t-shirt. Bram and Garrett find out about Abby and Nick taking Simon to a gay bar.-or-Garrett trying to be a good friend and getting Bram through the agony of waiting for Simon to text :)
Relationships: Bram Greenfeld & Garrett Laughlin, Bram Greenfeld & Simon Spier, Bram Greenfeld/Simon Spier
Series: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda - Blue's Bravery Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2170590
Comments: 5
Kudos: 34





	Bram Finds out about the Gay Bar

**Author's Note:**

> This is a missing scene from the book after Simon gets grounded for his drunken outing but before he writes the email to Bram.
> 
> I tried to write this so it aligns with my other story “Getting Bram to the tilt-a-whirl”. (And now they're grouped as a series). Hopefully I did an okay job at that. 
> 
> Hope you like it!

Bram is freaking out. He gave Spier that t-shirt with those two important notes exactly a week ago today. And Spier hasn’t called. Or texted.

If I’m being honest, I’m a little worried too. _A little_. I know when Spier figures all of this out, he’ll go crazy for Bram. I know it. But… it’s taking longer than I thought it would. I was _so sure_ that Spier would reach out this past weekend. But he didn’t. Which is extra hard because Bram’s birthday came and went without a word from Simon. I mean, Simon posted a "Happy Birthday!" on Bram’s Facebook, like everyone did. But no _word_ from Simon about those notes. Or the t-shirt.

Really, it just doesn’t make sense to me. Spier has been emailing anonymously with Bram for months. And Simon knows he’s the only one in the dark about their identities. There is _clearly_ a mutual interest there. Simon would want to reach out and find out who Blue is once he found out that Blue wanted him to. But no contact yet. There _has_ to be something we don’t know. There just has to be.

Oh well. Until we find out what that thing is, I’m on best friend duty, including keeping Bram from full-on spiralling until this thing with Spier plays out… hopefully in Bram’s favor. Almost certainly in Bram’s favor. God, I’m so hoping for that, Bram really deserves it.

We walk into the cafeteria and only Abby and Nick are at our usual table. Spier, Leah, Morgan and Anna are all missing. I mean, we're here a little earlier than normal but their absence is unusual and a little curious.

“Hey, where is everybody? Not here yet?” I immediately ask Nick as Bram and I put our trays down and sit.

Nick just shrugs his shoulders as if resigned to the state of things. “Leah is pissed at us so she’s probably hanging elsewhere, I’m guessing Anna and Morgan are with her in solidarity. Simon?.. Honestly, I’m not sure. Could it be something with the play?” He asks to Abby.

“No, silly. Because I’d be there too! And it was Morgan’s and Bram's birthdays this past weekend so Morgan and Anna will for sure show up soon. It’s still early.” She finishes as she glances up at the clock on the wall.

“Right. Happy Birthday Bram!” He says, and Abby repeats it. Bram just smiles and quietly says thanks to both. 

Nick continues, “I'm not sure where Simon is. He’s dealing with a lot of crap right now, as we all know. On top of all the other stuff, his parents reamed him out pretty bad over the weekend.” Nick tells us. I’m not sure if Simon would be okay with him telling us that, but that’s not my thing to worry about so I let it go.

Abby, quick to correct Nick, reminds him that because of Morgan and Bram’s birthdays, there will be an abundance of Leah-cakes and Simon would rather die than miss an opportunity to eat Leah’s signature cakes and celebrate someone’s birthday. Simon loves celebrating people’s birthdays. Even I know that.

I don’t ask why Leah is mad. That’s none of my business and we all know that Leah can be a bit moody. I figure whatever she’s mad about, they’ll sort it out with her when they’re all ready. But, I’m curious about the parents thing, so I ask. “What did Simon do to piss his parents off?”

“Well!” Abby starts. “You know how Simon’s life is a shitstorm right now? Well we decided to be good friends and take him out and we... um, well he got pretty wasted. I mean, I really think he’s doing okay with everything, all things considered. He _is_ pretty resilient. But still. We wanted to cheer him up so last Friday, we took him to a gay bar in Atlanta!”

Bram and I both shoot our heads up from our plates so fast, that Abby and Nick _have_ to think it’s strange. Thankfully, they don’t comment.

“You did?” Bram asks quietly.

“Yeah, we wanted to cheer him up and get his mind off, you know….. _everything._ So we thought it was a good idea! You know, maybe help him clear his head, and let loose. Also, I figured getting him a little male attention couldn’t hurt.” She says cheekily.

Nick just smiles “Yeah, it was a good idea, babe.” And leans over and pecks her quickly.

Well, _that’s_ new.

I guess Abby and Nick are together now.

“Um, it was a _great_ idea!” Abby boasts. “He had a great time! And although I don’t condone getting validation through male attention, I’m super happy to report that Simon did get hit on by a _super_ cute college guy named Peter! So that was definitely fun for him!”

I immediately look at Bram, who is clearly already silently panicking. And I mean, I can't say I blame him. First the Cal thing and now this? This can’t be easy for him. 

I’m sure Bram wants to ask a ton of questions but is terrified to move a muscle, so I decide to do it for him. Best case scenario, nothing happened at that bar and Bram gets some relief. Worst case scenario, we find out some bad news. But, I know Bram will want to know for sure, one way or another. 

“Oooh! Did they hook up?” I say, feigning excitement for Spier but I _reeeeeeally_ hope the answer is no. Bram will definitely freak out. I know he will. I apparently can’t help myself as I quickly glance at Bram. He definitely winced after my question.

“No, no." Abby responds immediately. "They just flirted a bit, and then this guy caught on about Simon’s age, and when he straight up _asked_ , Simon didn’t lie, so…” She shrugs “That was the end of _that_.”

“Um, did Simon seem disappointed? … about not hooking up with that guy?” Bram asks quietly, surprising everyone. Including me.

Abby glances at Nick and then decides to respond. “No, I don’t think so! Honestly, I don’t think Simon is ready for random hookups just yet and I bet he'd would agree with me about that, if we asked him. I think he just liked getting to flirt for flirting’s sake. Really, I kinda suspect he was just happy to have a guy be interested in him. Just to know what that feels like.”

Bram scrunched up his eyebrows at that.

He already told me that Simon mistook Blue’s hesitation about meeting as a romantic rejection, especially since Blue now knows who Simon is. The t-shirt, and more specifically that second note, was supposed to fix that, but alas, here we are. No resolution yet.

Abby keeps going, “But really, Simon kept drunkenly saying how happy he was to just get to ‘ _be gay_ ’ without having to, you know, worry about it for once. And I think college guy helped with that, but he definitely wasn’t all of it.”

She turns to Nick and gets a goofy smile on her face and says, “I’m glad we did that for him.”

Nick smiles back but then quickly turns back to Bram and me. “Besides, he only talked about that guy for like a minute or two. Once we left the bar, Si stopped talking about him and instead would _not_ shut up about that _stupid t-shirt_.”

I immediately turn to Bram whose attention is now instantly on Nick. He looks paralyzed with fear.

“What t-shirt?” I ask, for Bram.

Abby rolls her eyes. “Oh my God, dumb, drunken Simon insisted that he wanted to go back to his house to get some t-shirt he had forgotten to pack. He absolutely insisted on having it with him before he would agree to go back to my place to sleep. I’ve _never ever_ seen anyone be so adamant about _anything_ before.”

“What’s so special about this t-shirt?” I ask, again for Bram.

“Who knows??” Abby says, shrugging off the question.

But Nick apparently remembers more than Abby. “He said it’s an Elliott Smith t-shirt. Simon _loves_ Elliott Smith. Always has. But really who knows, maybe it’s his favorite sleeping shirt? I honestly have no idea. But either way, that dummy should have known he was too drunk to go home because his parents obviously were furious.”

“No, it’s not a sleeping shirt, remember he said the shirt is ‘not for wearing’ or something.” Abby says to Nick, putting finger quotes around ‘not for wearing’.

“Also..” She continues “We’re the dummies. We were the sober ones, we should have known better than to take him back to his parents. We should have insisted we go straight to my place.”

Nick just nods embarrassingly. “But then maybe _this_ wouldn’t have happened.” And he pulls her hand up to his face and kisses it. I know Nick’s my friend and I’m genuinely psyched for him that he asked his crush out and she said yes, but we’re getting off topic and I need them to focus up.

But I _am_ glad they realize that allowing Simon to go home was mostly _their_ mistake. Friends have to look out for each other when alcohol’s involved. And with everything going on with Simon, they should have known getting him drunk might involve a bit of caretaking on their part.

“What’s that about not actually _wearing_ the shirt?” I ask, trying to pivot the conversation back to that _very_ important detail.

“Oh yeah! The ‘not for wearing’ thing. That was so weird! Drunk Simon is _so_ weird.” Nick responds.

“Umm, no!” Abby says, emphatically disagreeing with Nick. “Drunk Simon is _the best_! He’s so friendly and smiley and cheerful. And he had only compliments to say to people _and_ about people, he waved hello to complete strangers, it was so adorable! I _love_ drunk Simon!” Abby says, adoringly.

I look over at Nick and I see a flash of jealousy pass on his face. Just a flash. It's still weird since he and Abby are clearly already hooking up and Simon is _gay_ so there’s really nothing to worry about. Also, Simon is in love with Bram. Except Simon doesn’t technically know that … _yet_. Bram refuses to believe he would be that lucky that Simon will love him once he knows who he is, but I know it’s true. Speaking of Bram, he looks weirdly a little content at hearing that Simon is a happy drunk. More fuel on an already blazing fire.

But we didn’t get a satisfactory answer on the ‘Simon doesn’t wear the shirt’ thing and I know Bram will be upset about that. But I can’t ask again without making it _a thing_ so I have to let it go.

“Anyhow, now Simon’s in deep shit with his parents because we’re all idiots, Simon included. I hope it doesn’t last too long.” Nick says.

Abby nods in agreement and then the topic changes to something else. I stopped listening and quickly glance at Bram who seems very invested in concentrating on eating his lunch.

I mean, I get it. we just learned a lot of new information.

Simon definitely got the shirt. Simon definitely likes the shirt and wanted to have it with him, enough to risk the wrath of his parents, even if his drunken brain may have misjudged how big a risk that was.

But.

Simon doesn’t wear the shirt. Or more specifically, the shirt is ‘not for wearing’.

I have _no idea_ what that means. And if I know Bram, he’s probably jumped right to the worst possible explanation.

I swear, sometimes I just want to shove Simon and Bram into a room and say “Hey! You two love each other! And … go!” And slam the door, lock them in and just see what happens. I’m pretty sure they’d get together within less than a minute.

But I know they have to get there themselves, and I’ll be a supportive friend to Bram through this. Because I also know he’s wrestling with the whole _coming out_ part too. I mean he’s out to me and both of his parents. But no one else knows. It’s a whole added layer of scariness that I can’t possibly understand and I get that. But I can be a good friend. So that’s what I’ll do.

I know Bram’s spiralling right now and I can’t talk to him about this in front of Abby and Nick. I’ll wait till after school, and then I’ll get him to talk to me. Bram always talks to me. Because I’m good at that too.

Almost on cue, Morgan and Anna show up carrying two giant sheet cakes for Morgan and Bram’s birthdays, obviously made by Leah, but no Leah in sight. Simon shows up a minute later, in time to get cake, and in a pretty good mood, all things considered.

Simon sits down in the empty seat next to Bram and immediately joins the conversation. “What are you guys talking about?” He asks, to no one in particular.

Nick jumps in, “I hope you don’t mind, man, but we were just filling Garrett and Bram in on Friday’s antics.”

Simon immediately winces and looks dramatically ashamed of himself. “Oh, you mean the inescapable evidence that I’m a moron? Yeah. By all means. _Share that with everyone_.” He says jokingly, but I’m sure he probably is at least a bit embarrassed.

Nick has the good sense to look a little contrite, but I think we all know that Simon’s not actually upset and he’s definitely not one to hold a grudge.

Simon immediately turns to Bram and cheerfully wishes him a happy birthday. Bram, predictably, says a quiet “Thanks.” and smiles. And that’s essentially the end of their direct one-on-one interaction for the day. No wonder Simon thinks Bram is quiet.

Simon then turns to help Morgan hand out cake to everyone, including random other juniors who know our group can be counted on to share in the birthday sweets.

I don’t get my chance to talk this whole thing out with Bram until after soccer practice when Bram is driving me home.

“So…?” I ask, trying to see if he wants to talk or not.

He just glances at me with a confused look. I guess that’s fair. Lunch was five hours ago.

“So … what?”

“So lunch was certainly interesting….”

Bram immediately furrows his brow.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Oh come on, man. That was some good news! He didn’t hook up with some random college guy and, _to point out the obvious_ ….he was _perfectly_ free to…., and he definitely got your shirt and he likes it _a lot_ apparently!”

“Yeah… but he doesn’t want to wear it? Why? Do you think he’s mad at Blue?”

“No, that’s not the impression I got. Remember what Abby said? He was ‘adamant’ about having the shirt with him. If he was mad at Blue, he would have just lived without the shirt for one night. But he got black-out drunk and apparently his main and only thought was _that_ t-shirt. That really tells you something.”

“Then why hasn’t he called or texted?”

“I don’t know, man. Maybe he hasn’t tried on the shirt yet?”

Bram glances at me skeptically. “That seems really unlikely.”

“Maybe he’s just taking the time to think of what he wants to say. Going from those emails to texting is … big. You said that’s why you waited so long to give him your number. And knowing Simon, he’s probably really overthinking what to say.”

Bram just smiles, but he doesn’t look relieved. I don’t think he believes me.

“Listen man, just be patient. It’s only been a week. Simon’s super busy with, you know, _everything_ that’s going on with his life these days. And he’s probably super preoccupied with the play! That’s this weekend, right?”

“Yeah, speaking of. Would I be a horrible friend if I asked you to come with me to that?” Bram asks, and looks at me with pleading eyes.

“Yeah man. Of course. I’ll come to every single show with you if you want.”

Bram still looks super stressed. “I just….I can’t help but think that Simon isn’t texting me because of Cal. We already know he asked him out. And the two of them spend so much time together. What if Simon’s …. moved on?”

We pull into my driveway right as Bram finishes that question.

“Hey put it in park for a second, okay?”

Bram obediently follows my request. I twist in the car seat to face him more squarely. “There’s no reason to think Simon’s moved on. I know this is hard, but it’s only been a week. Just give him more time. He was patient with you right? Just be patient with him. I _know_ this is going to work out.”

Bram smiles at me and then nods dutifully. “You’re right. Also, before I forget, thank you for, you know, asking all those questions at lunch. I know you did that for me.”

I just smile appreciatively at him and he keeps going. “And listen, man, I’m sorry I monopolized so much of our day today with my _drama_.”

“Don’t be! That’s what friends are for! And if you start spiralling tonight and need to talk more? Don’t hesitate to gimme a call. I got your back, bro!”

He smiles lightheartedly at me. “Thanks man. You’re the best.”

“You’re really great too. Seriously. Don’t forget that. Cal’s a fine guy and all, but he’s got nuthin’ on you.” And I wink at him and wave as I climb out of the car.

Later on, I can’t stop thinking about how much Bram is freaking out. And I know he’s uncomfortable with how much we talked about him today. He hates being the center of attention. But I suspect I might have to have that exact same conversation with Bram every day until Spier finally does reach out or until Bram can’t take it and decides to do something else to move this along. Either way. And I’m really okay with that. Because I know I’m right. Spier will be beyond happy when he finds out it’s Bram. We just have to wait for that to happen.

**Author's Note:**

> If you’re so inclined, you can go read the next story in this little collection!


End file.
